CHAPTER III. 
THE FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT OF A MARINE AQUARIUM. 
Here too were living flowers, 
Which like a bud comparted, 
Their purple lips contracted ; 
And now in open blossom spread, 
Stretched like green anthers many a seeking head. 
And arborets of jointed stone were there, 
And plants of fibres fine as silk-worms’ thread, 
Yea, beautiful as mermaid’s golden hair, 
Upon the waves dispread. 
Southey. 
T HE beauty of a richly-stored and well-kept aquarium is sufficient to 
recommend it to one who would have a “home of taste.” But 
perhaps it will be best enjoyed, because best understood, by one who has 
collected its materials in sea-side rambles and dredging expeditions, and who 
regards it as an aid to study much more than an adornment of the 
house. Our business is to consider it rather as a recreation and an 
ornament than as a depository of scientific truth, and therefore we shall 
not attempt any systematic description of the forms of life it presents 
to our notice as a microcosm of the all-embracing sea. It must be borne 
in mind that, whatever may be the primary object of the possession of 
an aquarium, judicious management is a matter of the first importance. The 
